Amber ‘attack on sis’ shown at trial
Video ‘casts doubt on witness’s evidence’
Previously unseen reality Tv footage of Amber Heard’s sister after she was allegedly attacked by the actress has been shown to the High Court after being sent in anonymously.
The clip was dramatically played yesterday afternoon.
Johnny Depp’s barrister, David Sherborne, appearing for the star’s libel case against the Sun newspaper, told the court it was sent by a “confidential source” on Thursday night – after Whitney Henriquez gave evidence to say her sister had never been violent towards her.
Henriquez told the court the footage was for a “really bad reality TV show” and said they were discussing a verbal argument, not a physical one.
In the short video, which Sherborne said was recorded in 2006 or 2007, Henriquez is with some other women by a pool.
She says she “got into an altercation” but does not want to discuss it further. A woman, who
BY ALISON KERSHAW reporters@dailyrecord.co.uk
at one point appears to be examining Henriquez’s face, says: “I can’t believe Amber beat your a **.
“I know you could beat her a**,” and then later on: “Whitney, truth or dare? Did you really start the fight with your sister? Or did she start it? For real, for real, for real.”
When Henriquez then says, “We’re not going to talk about that”, the woman replies, “She really did whoop your butt.”
Depp’s team say the new video “demonstrates Ms Whitney (Henriquez) was lying yesterday”.
On Thursday, she denied that Heard had ever hit her, or that she was “frightened” of her sister.
She also gave evidence saying she saw Depp punch Heard
“really hard in the head... multiple times” in Los Angeles in March 2015, in the so-called “stairs incident”.
Henriquez admitted that her sister also punched the actor on that occasion, but said she only did so “in my defence” because she believed he was going to push her down the stairs. Sherborne told the court: “After [Ms Henriquez] gave evidence yesterday, one of our team was contacted by an individual, on the basis of being kept confidential.” He added: “We were contacted to explain that Ms Amber Heard had a history of violence and attacking people and this video, which was attached, of her sister Whitney was taken shortly after Amber Heard had attacked her and Ms Whitney [Henriquez] was filmed with people commenting on the bruises on her face and body.”
“The reliability of Ms Whitney [Henriquez] is critical,” Sherborne said.
Depp is suing NGN, the publishers of The Sun newspaper, over the publication of an article in April 2018 which ran with the headline: “Gone Potty: How can JK Rowling be ‘genuinely happy’ casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?”
NGN is defending the article as true.
The case – the biggest English libel trial of the 21st century – is due to finish next week.
The reliability of Ms Whitney is critical DaviD Sherborne DEPP’S DEFENCE LAWYER